GM Expects To Make A Profit On EVs With the Launch of A New Platform

General Motors CEO Mary Barra spoke yesterday at the Barclays Global Automotive Conference in New York. During her talk, Barra said the company expects to make a profit off electric vehicles once they launch their next-generation EV platform.

“We are working to provide desirable, obtainable and profitable vehicles that deliver a range of over 300 miles. There’s a lot of really creative things we’re doing to achieve that profitability point for that new platform,” Barra said to investors.

The next-generation modular platform, due in 2021 will play a pivotal role in GM's plan to launch 20 all-new electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles by 2023. The platform will help drop the total per-unit cost by 30 percent or more. It will be used across a number of GM brands and various segments.

GM is also working on a new battery system that will cut the per-kilowatt-hour from $145 to under $100 by 2021.

Before these two launches, GM will be introducing four new EV and hydrogen vehicles. Two of those will be launch by April 2019 according to a GM spokesman. At least two vehicles will be small crossovers according to Automotive News. It is expected the electric models will use the underpinnings of the Chevrolet Bolt.

The company has a set a goal of a million electric vehicles by 2026 - with most happening in China due to their strict production quotas for EVs.

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Super expensive powertrain and technology but it'll be in a tin shell with no insulation and plastic seats.

I hope not as one of the things that I love about the bolt is the triple seals on the door and the vault like solid nature of the auto and how quiet it is. If only they would drop or give an alternative color to that damn white V accent, my wife would say lets buy one.

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Super expensive powertrain and technology but it'll be in a tin shell with no insulation and plastic seats.

I was thinking the same thing...but along the lines of cheapening out on some sort of automotive part by reducing the amount of material used by making it smaller and saving about 3 cents per unit and when the part gets old by 5 years or so and the car hits a bump...the part fails in such a way that for whatever reason locks the steering wheel from turning and prevents the airbag in deploying when the car goes boom...

But for me to say such a thing maybe trolling...GM would never do that....

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As companies get better at EVs, they'll continue to be simpler to build than ICEs. That's where I expect a lot of efficiency to come from. There will be a greater percentage of common parts shared among different models.

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Gotta have 300+ and I don't see a charge port door in GM's typical location on the fender. Would be a cool little trucklet with the whisper diesel.

I agree that a small Trucklet EV would make total sense especially as it would fit in for the local city and county gov that need a truck that actually drives very little for park maintenance, as well as for inner city dwellers that want a mini truck for Home Depot or Lowes runs.

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As companies get better at EVs, they'll continue to be simpler to build than ICEs. That's where I expect a lot of efficiency to come from. There will be a greater percentage of common parts shared among different models.

Efficiency can too easily equate to totally boring homogeny. This should be seen as a real threat to the enjoyment of the personal car, and when enjoyment diminishes, lower sales follow, and on and on.

This is why I will continue to rail against automotive electrification... it instills a numbing sameness that will suck all the joy out.

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Efficiency can too easily equate to totally boring homogeny. This should be seen as a real threat to the enjoyment of the personal car, and when enjoyment diminishes, lower sales follow, and on and on.

This is why I will continue to rail against automotive electrification... it instills a numbing sameness that will suck all the joy out.

Did someone forget about those F&F days?

There too many folks in this world to all be doing the same, exact thing . Not that I was a big fan of fart cans and wings, but some of us just want to enjoy our rides, not matter what they are. We really can't change the times my friend, only finding a way to make it our own.

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Efficiency can too easily equate to totally boring homogeny. This should be seen as a real threat to the enjoyment of the personal car, and when enjoyment diminishes, lower sales follow, and on and on.

This is why I will continue to rail against automotive electrification... it instills a numbing sameness that will suck all the joy out.

You do realize that your 1st paragraph has NOTHING to do with EVs, right?

Hate on EVs all you want...homogeny started a looooong time ago....

Example:

Camaro

Firebird

Only the the steering wheel is different...

Camaro

Firebird

Monte Carlo

Oldsmobile 1986 Cutlass Supreme 442

And of course the not so high output 5.0s found in California Corvettes, Caprices, Fleetwoods and the like!

In the other thread you were saying that it be the same platform and only the shell will differentiate???

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Efficiency can too easily equate to totally boring homogeny. This should be seen as a real threat to the enjoyment of the personal car, and when enjoyment diminishes, lower sales follow, and on and on.

This is why I will continue to rail against automotive electrification... it instills a numbing sameness that will suck all the joy out.

You're about 3 decades late. The Generic Asian Sedan put most of the sameness into cars that we have today.